Ethan Rakers was not ready to have his long basketball career come to an end.

After turning in a strong performance against the Hermann Bearcats in the Class 3, District 7 championship game on Feb. 26 at South Callaway High School, the Montgomery County senior will get to play at least one more basketball game. He scored a game-high 16 points with four 3-pointers to lift third-seeded MCHS to a 52-44 win over top-seeded Hermann.

After the contest, Rakers grabbed the district championship trophy and ran to the student section to celebrate with his classmates.

“It means a lot,” Rakers said.

The Wildcats won their second straight district title and their seventh in program history. They also improved to 17-12, guaranteeing them their third straight winning season. A month ago, MCHS was 7-9.

Now, the Wildcats are looking to advance to the state quarterfinals as they play the Cole Camp Bluebirds in a Class 3 sectional contest at 7:45 p.m. on March 2 at Smith-Cotton High School in Sedalia. Cole Camp, located 20 miles south of Sedalia, beat Stover 63-50 in three overtimes in the District 8 title game on Feb. 26.

“We all want to go on a run,” MCHS junior Alex Hartman said. “We all want to get a state title. If we put in the work, I think we can get it done.”

The winner of the MCHS-Cole Camp game will play either Duchesne or Monroe City in the state quarterfinals at 7:30 p.m. on March 5 at Battle High School in Columbia.

The Wildcats finished 3-0 in the district tournament. They started postseason play on Feb. 22 with a 53-37 win over New Bloomfield in the quarterfinals, then knocked off North Callaway 45-37 in the semifinals three days later.

MCHS snapped a four-game losing streak to Hermann. The Bearcats beat the Wildcats by double digits in each of the last two meetings this season.

Rakers said his team was determined not to lose to Hermann again.

“Our mentality was to come in and take care of their best player, which is their point guard (Seth Hackmann), and take care of their other best player, which is No. 23 (Parker Anderson),” Rakers said. “I had the task to guard him. I was able to shut him down from the start and make it hard for him to score.”

Rakers hit three of his 3-pointers in the third quarter, including one with eight seconds left that gave the Wildcats a 39-30 lead. The senior was named to the all-district team for his performance.

Rakers also helped MCHS complete the sweep of district titles. Two hours earlier, the girls team defeated Hermann in the championship game, making it the first time in school history that the boys and girls won district crowns in the same year.

“It’s crazy,” Rakers said. “Both teams went through roller coasters. We all came together and we’ve been able to support each other through multiple games and all of the tournaments.”

Freshman Clayton Parker also was named to the all-district team. He finished with nine points against Hermann. His older brothers, Carson and Collin, played on district championship teams.

“We fought really hard for this,” Parker said. “We practiced really hard. We lost to (Hermann) twice, so it’s even better beating them.”

Senior Drake Smith finished with 13 points and seniors Logan Hutcheson and Keenan James each had five. James gave the Wildcats the lead for good with 7:23 left in the third quarter, when he nailed a 3-pointer that broke a 23-23 tie.

Rakers, who plans to play baseball at Lindenwood University next year, said he’s happy that all of the seniors will get to continue their basketball careers. All four of them have played basketball together since they were in elementary school.

“For all of us to extend our season, it’s pretty cool,” Rakers said.

MCHS coach Scott Kroeger earned District Coach of the Year honors.